Lafayette Urban Ministry -- Newsletter.SEPTEMBER2004

2004 Hunger Hike
An annual event to help feed the hungry
Presented by Bison Financial Group

Sunday, September 19
1:00 pm Registration at Riehle Plaza, downtown Lafayette.

2:00 pm 7K hike begins - two "loops" on the Wabash Heritage Trail. Walk both loops or stop after the first 3 miles.
3:00 pm Party time! Live music by the Hot Club of Colfax, clowns, balloons, popcorn, watermelon, Coke products

There are lots of ways to participate!

Collect sponsors and donations. Bring the money with you on the day of the hike.
NEW-- ONLINE DONATIONS! www.hungerhike.org
Get friends and relatives to donate online! Tell them to provide your name so you can get credit for their donation.
Need extra registration/collection forms? Print them out from the Web!
Make a donation to the hike.
Organize a group of friends, family, or co-workers and participate as a group.
Free t-shirts to walkers who raise $50 or more! Prizes and awards to individuals and groups who raise the most, including the most online donations!

How does the Hunger Hike help?
Hikers and their sponsors help meet the needs of hungry families in the greater Lafayette area and overseas. Donations will go to the Lafayette Urban Ministry's food programs, Food Finders Food Bank, and St. Thomas Aquinas Haiti ministry. Thousands of low-income families depend upon these programs for food security.

What should I know about hunger?
It is estimated that more than 800 million people are hungry in the world. Each year 6 million children die from hunger or hunger-related diseases. In the U.S., 35 million people live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. One out of every six children in the U.S. is poor. 14% of Tippecanoe County residents live in poverty. In 2003, Food Finders Food Bank distributed over 1 million pounds of food in Tippecanoe County. Over 1400 families visited the LUM/St. John's Food Pantry during the first half of 2004.

How much should I donate?
Consider a donation equal to 10% of your monthly food budget or the cost of fast food meals for a month.

Finding the strength to carry each other's burdens
by Mary Anderson, Acting Executive Director

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Let us not become weary in doing goodAs we have opportunity, let us do good to all people." Galatians 6:2, 9, 10

What a fitting message for early fall at Lafayette Urban Ministry! Our caseloads in every programespecially emergency financial assistance and the food pantryare well above last year's numbers. There is no shortage of burdens to carry: those of our clients seeking emergency financial assistance, those of our shelter guests, those of our afterschool children's families, those of the many coming to the LUM/St. John's food pantry. And because of that, the opportunities for doing good abound!

Several recent reports have focused on the burdens carried by many of LUM's client families. The Census Bureau just reported in August that the number of families living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, raising the number of people living below the poverty line to 35.8 million12.5% of the population. The rise was even more dramatic for children: 12.9 million living in poverty or about 17.6 percent of all children under 18 years. That's up from 16.7 percent in 2002almost a full percentage point.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released a study of hunger and poverty in America in April of 2004. One section of the report (available on line at www.loga.org) deals with the inequalities of wealth in this country. Between 1979 and 2000, after-tax income increased by 300% for the top 1% of income earners, while increasing by only 15% for the middle fifth and by 9% for the bottom fifth. Almost 40% of the people living in poverty are working. Roughly 17% of homeless people are employed. Three in 10 households in the U.S. have "housing affordability problems."

Perhaps the most poignant picture of the state of our country's poor comes from Marian Wright Edelman's article "America's Fifth Child," presented to a Presbyterian Church Assembly in 2002. She paints a portrait of the "fifth child"the one child in every five that lives in poverty. The fifth child is more likely to be from a working family than a family receiving welfare benefits. The fifth child is more likely to be white than black or Latino. America's fifth child will not grow or develop as fast as other children physically, mentally or intellectually. Our fifth child will start school with a vocabulary that is thousands of words behind middle-class peers. Dr. Edelman writes, "America's fifth child is there because this country chooses not to see and invest in all its children. These are real children."

Do we, at LUM, grow weary, especially reading such statistics and knowing the very real people behind them? We have our moments. But then the unemployed person comes in for steel-toed boots for the new job, the homeless family gets help with a deposit for their new apartment, the after-school parent can work to the end of the day, knowing their child is being nurtured by LUM staff and volunteers. Small successes, but successes nonetheless.

And LUM offers YOU many opportunities to help carry someone else's burdens and to do good things for others:

On Sunday, Sept 19, we will host the Hunger Hike. You can walk and/or make a donation, and your efforts will help LUM, Food Finders Food Bank and St. Thomas Aquinas' Haiti ministry.
On Thanksgiving Day, we will be serving dinner to the greater Lafayette community at Central Presbyterian Churchfood donations and volunteers will be needed.
Jubilee Christmas will happen on December 11donations of toys, time and treasure will assist almost 700 families with Christmas needs.
Our shelter can always use volunteers for meals or overnight stays.
Our afterschool program needs extra hands on occasion.

Whatever your gifts and interests, LUM offers you many opportunities to do good.

Please consider these words to the Church at Galatia: Carry each other's burdens. Trust that God will strengthen you so you do not grow weary. And use opportunities to do good to all people. I hope we'll hear from you soon.

You can help needy families by contributing to CEF

Last year LUM's Centralized Emergency Fund provided $108,806 in emergency financial relief to 1,563 local families for housing, utility, food, transportation, and prescription drug emergencies. Our caseload for 2004 is outpacing last year's and our contributions to CEF have remained static. Please consider a financial contribution of $35, $50, $100, $250, or more to LUM's CEF.

Remember, your entire gift to the Centralized Emergency Fund goes to help a family resolve a critical emergency financial need. There is never any administrative or fundraising expense taken from what you give.

Make your check out to the Lafayette Urban Ministry, write "CEF" on the memo line and place it in the enclosed envelope. Thank you.

LUM Afterschool Program serves up great times for 6th year

The Afterschool Program was bursting with excitement on the first day, August 17, with a full enrollment of 27 children. The children range from kindergarten to 5th grade and come from seven different schools in the Lafayette School Corporation. LUM provides transportation for the children each day from their schools to LUM.

Each day upon arrival the children have a nutritious snack. After snack, it's time for homework and additional tutoring from our volunteers. Several great enrichment activities and field trips are planned for this year including the Columbia Park Zoo Circle, Marsh Supermarket, the Fire Department, swimming at YWCA, the Tippecanoe County Public Library, Galloping for God (a trick horse), and the Fair Oaks Dairy Farm. In addition, guests will visit to share and teach religious education, Spanish, art, and the use of computers.

The program will continue last year's theme of "Exploring the World Around Us" and expand it to "Exploring the World Beyond Us." The children will spend a lot of time discovering our own culture and environment as well as discovering cultures in other parts of the world. The first unit was on the Olympics and currently the children are learning about Africa.

LUM provides a wonderful atmosphere for the children while giving their parents an opportunity to finish up the workday with the confidence of knowing their child is being provided a wonderful and safe opportunity at LUM. This year the program director is Rita Tillett and Amy Borland is the aide. Both have years of experience working with elementary age children.

You can help!

Van drivers needed: Pick up children from school in a 15-passenger van and deliver to LUM 2:20pm-3:20pm any afternoon M-F ($7/hr). Please call Rita at 423-2691 ext. 18.

Snacks needed: Popcorn, granola bars, fruit snacks, crackers, and drink mixes or anything else that is healthy. Please provide enough to serve 27 children.

Back to school with LUM's Dignity U Wear

Saturday August 7 was the day for LUM's third distribution of new clothing from Dignity U Wear. This event, held at Lafayette's First Christian Church, had a distinct back-to-school flavor. Over 70 children from 35 local families received new slacks, shirts, winter coats, and even school supplies that will help those children and families in the transition to the new school year.

Dignity U Wear's founder Henry Landwirth said "when a child is ashamed about what he is wearing, that child's confidence and self-esteem suffer. But if that child could walk into his classroom with brand new clothes, his head held high, that child's outlook and hope for the future might be brighter."

"Thank you" to all the volunteers who helped set up tables, sort clothing, and welcome the families. Thanks also to Steinmart of Lafayette for their help in the set up and presentation of LUM's Dignity U Wear "clothing store." Our next Dignity U Wear clothing distribution will be in November.

Bob Grenard is honored for years of service

After twelve years of loading and delivering baked goods, 83-year old Bob Grenard is calling it quits. Bob has worked side by side every Friday morning with Joe Wippel to make sure surplus breads, cakes, and doughnuts find their way to those in the community who need help in stretching their food dollars. Bob has volunteered in the program since 1992 when LUM first organized several sites around the community to accept and distribute the baked goods from Food Finders Food Bank.

A special surprise party was held on September 3, during Bob's last delivery stop at the First Baptist Church in downtown Lafayette. The baked goods distribution serves about 100 families each week.

Bob and his wife Helen have three grandchildren and are members of the Federated Church in West Lafayette. Bob retired from Purdue's Horticulture Department where he worked for 35 years conducting research on vegetables. Bob plans to spend his "second" retirement doing woodworking and blacksmithing. Thank you Bob for your years of faithful service!

Briefly Noted

Joe Wippel needs your help! Due the retirement of his long-time partner Bob Grenard, Joe (and LUM) is searching for a volunteer with a strong back and a steady hand to help with his weekly baked good distribution duties. Can you lift 20 lbs. and are you available to help drive and unload a small panel truck each Friday morning? Call Patti O'Callaghan at 423-2691, ext. 17 for details, or e-mail her at pocallghan@lafayetteurbanministry.org.
The LUM Emergency Shelter for the Homeless is in need of volunteers to serve overnight in the shelter and in need of groups to prepare nightly meals for the homeless. Contact Joyce Boehm at 423-2691 ext. 22, or email her at jboehm@lafayetteurbanministry.org.
Creating a Just Society Conference--Planting Justice, Harvesting Peace. When: Saturday, October 30. Where: University Church. Registration: $20. Contact: 463-5879. Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church and others.
The Lafayette Urban Ministry is proud to announce Bison Financial as the major corporate sponsor of the Greater Lafayette Hunger Hike! Bison CEO Dave Vorbec presented a $3,000 check to the Hunger Hike Committee on August 18 (at right). Bison has commited to a 3-year relationship with Hunger Hike. LUM is grateful to Bison Financial for its friendship and support.

LUM's new Clemente Course up and running

Thirty students were accepted into LUM's new Bard College Clemente Course for the Humanities, which began classes on September 7. "Clemente" is a tuition-free, credit-granting course in the liberal arts designed specifically for low-income people. Books are free, and there is no tuition for the six transferable credit hours that are granted by Bard College to those who successfully complete the course. Childcare, snacks, and bus fare are also provided to the students.

Doctors Joy Castro, Cheryl Hughes, and Clifford Petersen are teaching classes in literature, moral philosophy, history, American history, writing, and critical thinking. LUM is excited about this new outreach to low-income individuals in our community and will keep you posted on the project's progress.